As I suspected would happen when Jamie and Ian were left on their own to escort Rebekah and the Torah, they are attacked in Virgins section 19. Fortunately, Rebekah and the Torah are safe, but the same can’t be said for others.
I’m still surprised that anyone thought it would be a good idea for just two mercenaries to escort the two most valuable items. It was only a matter of time before people would come up on them, and of course, it had to happen right away!
Breaking down Virgins section 19
As the group travels, they are ambushed by some men. They are thieves, and Jamie and Ian have to do everything they can to fight them off. Jamie is thrown off, and Ian tries to shoot one of the thieves, but he misses.
While the men are scared off, Ian can’t chase them. The woods are too thick, and the others need some help. When he gets back to the coach, he can see Jamie beating someone up and the coach overturned in a ditch. Rebekah and her maid are screaming, and it turns out that one of the men, Mr. Peretz, has been killed in the altercation from a broken neck.
Diego is nowhere to be seen, and he’s possibly dead as well. Jamie is okay, but Ian checks him over the way that the doctor for the mercenaries would. Of course, he doesn’t really know what the doctor looks for, so it’s a little bit useless.
There are three good horses, so the group decides that they will take the horses and continue their travels, finding the first village to inform people about Mr. Peretz. However, Rebekah doesn’t know how to ride a horse. So, she has to ride with Ian, while Jamie takes the Torah and the maid takes the luggage. This does make Jamie a little jealous, but he is also amused at the way Ian looks now that he’s had to help Rebekah onto the horse, which wasn’t that easy to do!
Could this section be used in a TV adaptation?
If Virgins was adapted, I would expect to see this section used. After all, it brings some action for this part of the story, and we would need to see that on the screen. It reminds us of how dangerous this journey is, and that has nothing to do with them traveling with Jewish people.
I would also like to see how Jamie and Ian fight, because they’re not the skilled soldiers that we eventually at least know Jamie has. We would see that they are used to fighting or training together, though, and that would help them be able to tackle the bandits.
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